As Emirates Airline president and founding father Tim Clark prepares to step aside, he reflects in this FlightGlobal video interview on more than three decades at the sharp end of Dubai’s flag carrier.
Clark outlines the local aeropolitical tensions that led to the creation of a Dubai flag carrier, how the business plan evolved and the way the fleet was built up to epic proportions. He also notes the key moments in the airline’s evolution and meteoric rise to become a leading global network carrier.
“We had everyone and their dog telling us we were doing the wrong thing,” he says of Emirates’ early days. “Really? Then five years later they were asking: ‘do you think you can help us?’ The boot was on the other foot and it’s been like that ever since.”
